Jo Anne McKnight: Saraland seniors hold holiday party

On July 3, the staff and volunteers at Saraland Senior Center held a holiday celebration for the seniors. Included on the menu were generous servings of banana pudding and watermelon.Dressing in traditional red, white and blue were party hosts Janice McAuthor, Betty McDavid, Dorothy Rogers, Heidi Crittenden (center director), Lorine May, May Luther, Joyce Bush, Hattie Lofton, Pat Castleberry, JoAnn Willcutt, Vicki Warren, Vernon Marsh, Rosetta Huff, Rhonda Wilson, Paula Matthews and Carolyn Stetter.Two special events coming up at Saraland Senior Center are Coffee with Mayor Howard Rubenstein at 9 a.m. on July 18 and a trip to the Senior Food Bank on July 20.For more information or a calendar on all the clubs, cards, games and trips at the Senior Center, call 251-375-5438. The building at 718 Mae St. is open from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. The center’s computer lab, billiards room and exercise rooms are open during hours of operation.

A SAIL lunch is served at 11:30 a.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday of each week, and there is a very active Meals on Wheels program (and a wonderful chance to volunteer to deliver meals to shut-ins).Next door at the Saraland Civic Center, exercise classes, line dancing and quilting groups are offered several days a week, and the Widowed Persons Service holds a meeting there on Tuesdays at 10 a.m. For more information on those activities, call Teresa Osborne, 251-679-5511.

Today at 6:30 p.m., Chickasaw Civic Theatre, 801 Iroquois St., will hold auditions for “To Kill A Mockingbird,” based on the Pulitizer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee. Callbacks on a later night are possible. Roles are available for a large, diverse cast, including 10 men, five women (ages 18 and older), one girl (age 8-10), two boys (ages 10-13), and parts for two African-American women and two African-American men.Those auditioning are encouraged to prepare a one-minute monologue using a Southern accent, said director Leonora Harrison. “We will also be doing a scene from the show; a script will be provided,” she said. Performances will be Sept. 21-23 and 28-30. For details, email leonoraharrison@gmail.com.

Tom Hayward of Chickasaw Chamber of Commerce and Chickasaw Kiwanis Club reports that the fourth annual Independence Day celebration at Brooks Park was “the best one” the city has ever had.“The band was great and (Mayor) Byron Pittman’s daughter, Amy, sang ‘The Star-spangled Banner,’” Hayward said. And, he said, “Fireworks, as usual, were spectacular with most being colored aerial displays. Mayor Pittman,” he said, “always picks up the tab for the display.”Hayward worked the sandwich booth with fellow Kiwanians Ervin and Cecilia Dailey and Charles Czajkowski, and, he said, “I continue to feel a sense of pride just being there (at the celebration) for the evening.”

From the Celebrate Freedom event in Semmes, Kristi Norris said that there was a great turnout this year, an estimated crowd of about 12,000 to enjoy a family-friendly festival and fireworks show. “It rained a little, but just enough to cool it off,” she said. “And,” she added, “We had so many sponsors from the Semmes area and we just want to thank all those who sponsored and (those who) participated.” Norris’ husband, Vint Norris, is pastor at Orchard Assembly of God Church, which stages the celebration each year.

Mike McKinley of Satsuma said that One Meal for the homeless downtown is still is doing well, with a continued increase in the number of hungry served. “But thanks to the good Lord and to our volunteers, we are doing OK in delivering a meal every Sunday,” he said.The organization’s needs and/or wants now fall in the area of keeping supplies up and full in the following categories, McKinley said: funds (checks made out to One Meal or gift cards), bottled water, canned meats and vegetables, condiments, fresh fruit and produce, cake/brownie mix, oils and butters, serving supplies (great need for Styrofoam soup bowls with lids, 8-12 ounce size) and, in the “hoping for” area, a 6-by-12’ utility trailer, a big fan and a generator. For more information on this nonprofit charitable organization, call McKinley at 251-379-9014; checks can be mailed to One Meal, 108 Joginell Circle N., Satsuma, AL 36572.

Senior news

Chickasaw seniors and disabled citizens can receive a home-cooked meal for $3 through the city’s Meals on Wheels program. For more information or to volunteer, call 251-452-6462.

Senior Adult Bingo is on Wednesdays at noon at Chickasaw Civic Center. Snacks and prizes are provided. Call 251-452-6464 for transportation. Chick-A-Cisers exercise classes for seniors take place on Monday and Wednesday at the Civic Center from 8:30 to 9:15 a.m.

The Northside Salvation Army in Saraland is offering qualified seniors in the Satsuma, Saraland, Chickasaw and Prichard areas a supplemental food supply on the third Friday of every month. The next distribution will be July 20 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Salvation Army Church, 31 Saraland Blvd. S. Application can be made on the first visit; for more information, call 251-675-1952.

Meetings

The Greenleaf Writers’ Group will meet July 21 at 10 a.m. at Semmes Public Library, 9150 Moffett Road. For more information on this group, call Betty Spence, 251-649-4892.

The Mary Ellen Ward Art Guild Adult Painting class will meet at the Semmes Public Library on July 19 at noon. Jeanette Byrd of the Guild said that the class is free. “We have painters in acrylic, oil and water color (so) if you paint or would like to learn how, come and join us,” Byrd said. For information, call her at 251-649-1647.

Semmes Heritage Park quilters meet at 10 a.m. on Wednesdays at 3871 Wulff Road. The group is hand quilting a quilt that will be raffled to benefit Heritage Park some time in the future. The group is open to membership to both novices and experienced quilters. For additional information, contact Jeanette Byrd, 251-649-1647.

School news

At Prichard Preparatory School, two very industrious students far exceeded their expected Accelerated Reader goals during the 2011-12 school year. Fourth-grader Jackson July read in excess of 2 million words and Jamare Martin, third grade, reached 1 million. And, said school principal Rosalie Howley, they passed the comprehension tests with 80 percent accuracy or better.In other PPS news, Howley said that Don Gardner, who’s retired from Vigor High School, will be the school’s new music teacher. “He will be teaching all of our students keyboarding and music theory, as well as teaching chorus.”And for this coming school year, Howley said, the school has added a Spanish teacher, so children will be learning a foreign language.

Summer fun

The children’s Summer Reading Program at the Ina Pullen Smallwood Memorial Library in Chickasaw will continue through July 17 from 2 to 3 p.m. Director Teresa Goolsby said that the children’s program consists of stories, crafts, refreshments, prizes — and a few surprises along the way. For more information, call 251-452-6465.

The July 20 noon video at Prichard and Mitchell libraries is “Little Bill in Big Little Bill.” Children ages 3-13 are welcome to attend the free film event.

The Summer Reading Program at Satsuma Public Library had some fun, informative and entertaining sessions this year, and produced some outstanding readers. June 28 was the final week of the library's “Dream Big: Read” Summer Reading Program. Star readers, according to the city’s Tiphani Clearman, were Hannah Hartley, Grand Prize winner; Jaxon Crisler, first place and Jade Crisler, honorable mention. The program that day was presented by Kent Landsberg, public education representative for Mobile Fire Rescue Department.

Hannah Hartley, Grand Prize Winner in the Summer Reading Program at Satsuma Public Library, poses with author Sheila Booth-Alberstadt. The "Maggie McNair" author visited the library on June 21. (Courtesy of Tiphani Clearman)

Landsberg, Clearman said, talked with the children about fire safety and fire prevention and read “No Dragons for Tea,” which she termed “a wonderful fire safety book for kids — and dragons!”On June 21, children’s author Sheila Booth-Alberstadt paid a visit to the library. She read her “Maggie McNair” books to the children and shared with them the adventures of writing, Clearman said.The writer, said Clearman, was born in Kristiansund, Norway, raised in Vero Beach, Fla., educated in Massachusetts and now lives in Fairhope with her husband, Stephen Alberstadt, and children, Signe, Sam, Saxon, Saylor, Payton and Logan. She spends much of her spare time writing books, but is also a hospice volunteer.